AJIMOBI |
The Oyo State Governor, Abiola Ajimobi, on Tuesday presented a 2016 budget proposal of N165bn to the state House of Assembly.
He
promised that the state would no longer rely solely on dwindling federal
allocation after major reforms which would increase the state
Internally Generated Revenue by 400 per cent.
Of the
amount, N92.37bn, representing 55.98 per cent of the budget, would be
spent on recurrent expenditure, while capital expenditure would consume
N72.73b, representing 44.10 per cent of the budget.
While
presenting the budget and analysing the performance of the state fiscal
operations in the outgoing year, Ajimobi said the year 2015 had been
particularly challenging for the state because of unprecedented negative
development in the price of crude oil in the international market.
This he
said resulted in consistent dwindling of national revenue with the
resultant effect of substantial reduction in statutory allocation from
the federation account.
Ajimobi added that there was the likelihood of a further slide next year and even beyond.
He said,
“It is now evident that the state is in a situation where there is a
sudden and significant reduction in revenue, without a corresponding
decline in aggregate public expenditure.
“This has
led to major distortions in our fiscal operations, as we are forced into
rationing the paltry revenue available among unavoidable expenditure
items.
“We have, however, remained steadfast in our resolve to minimise the negative impact of this situation on our people.”
While
stating that the state would look inward to improve on the performance
of its fiscal operations next year, the governor stated that the state
would from next year generate N5bn monthly, instead of the present
N1.2bn it generates.
In the
analysis of the 2016 budget proposal, the governor said 54.85 per cent,
representing N39.9bn of the amount, would be spent on the economic
sector, with the social service sector gulping 18.63 per cent, amounting
to N13.6b of the budget.
He said
11.17 per cent of the budget would go to urban and regional development
while general administration would gulp N11.2bn or 15.85 per cent of the
budget.
Listing
the priorities of the state government in the coming year, the governor
stated that all on-going projects in the state-owned schools would be
completed with emphasis on technical and vocational training.